Vietnam Veterans of America
Chapter 1024, Orange County, California
News & Events
Number 1 Hit In 1975
"I Can Help"
Billy Swann
"I Can Help"
Billy Swann
GRUMPY'S
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Michael Rhodes
Director of Administration & Management
Office of the Secretary of Defense
Office of the Secretary of Defense
GRUMPY'S
Support the spirit of Wayne "Grumpy" McVeigh's efforts toward furthering the POW-MIA issues
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While at USAPOWMIA.net visit the "Comments" section to see what others have to say and feel free to post your one feedback. Your comments do
get read.
Vietnam War
50th Anniversary
2009 Marked The Start Of The Anniversary Of The Official Involvement Of US Forces In Vietnam50th Anniversary
In 2010 the Obama Administration cut back drastically on plans to commemorate the Anniversary of the Vietnam War which were to span from 2009 until 2025 (the fall of Saigon). Below are some moving and interesting history and information from and about The Wall
"Carved on these walls is the story of America , of a continuing quest to preserve both Democracy and decency, and to protect a national treasure that we call the American dream."
~ President George Bush
There are 58,267 names now listed on that polished black wall, including those added in 2010.
The names are arranged in the order in which they were taken from us by date and within each date the names are alphabetized. It is hard to believe it is 36 years since the last casualties.
Beginning at the apex and going out to the end of the east Wall, appearing to recede into the earth, then resuming at the end of the west Wall, as the Wall emerges from the earth and ending with a date in 1975, the war's beginning and end meet. The war is complete, coming full circle, yet broken by the earth that bounds the angle's open side and contained within the earth itself.
The first known casualty was Richard B. Fitzgibbon, of North Weymouth, Mass. Listed by the Department of Defense as having been killed on June 8, 1956. His name is listed on the Wall with that of his son, Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Richard B. Fitzgibbon III, who was killed on September 7, 1965.
There are three sets of fathers and sons on the Wall.
39,996 on the Wall were just 22 or younger.
8,283 were just 19 years old.
The largest age group, 33,103 were 18 years old.
12 soldiers on the Wall were 17 years old.
5 soldiers on the Wall were 16 years old.
One soldier, PFC Dan Bullock was 15 years old.
997 soldiers were killed on their first day in Vietnam .
1,448 soldiers were killed on their last day in Vietnam .
31 sets of brothers are on the Wall.
Thirty one sets of parents lost two of their sons.
54 soldiers on the Wall attended Thomas Edison High School in Philadelphia . I wonder why so many from one school.
8 Women are on the Wall. Nursing the wounded.
244 soldiers were awarded the Medal of Honor during the Vietnam War; 153 of them are on the Wall.
Beallsville, Ohio with a population of 475 lost 6 of her sons.
West Virginia had the highest casualty rate per capita in the nation. There are 711 West Virginians on the Wall.
The Marines of Morenci - They led some of the scrappiest high school football and basketball teams that the little Arizona copper town of Morenci (pop. 5,058) had ever known and cheered. They enjoyed roaring beer busts. In quieter moments, they rode horses along the Coronado Trail, stalked deer in the Apache National Forest. In the patriotic camaraderie typical of Morenci's mining families, the nine graduates of Morenci High enlisted as a group in the Marine Corps. Their service began on Independence Day, 1966. Only 3 returned home.
The Buddies of Midvale - LeRoy Tafoya, Jimmy Martinez, Tom Gonzales were all boyhood friends and lived on three consecutive streets in Midvale, Utah on Fifth, Sixth and Seventh avenues. They lived only a few yards apart. They played ball at the adjacent sandlot ball field. And they all went to Vietnam . In a span of 16 dark days in late 1967, all three would be killed. LeRoy was killed on Wednesday, Nov. 22, the fourth anniversary of John F. Kennedy's assassination. Jimmy died less than 24 hours later on Thanksgiving Day. Tom was shot dead assaulting the enemy on December 7, 1967.
The most casualty deaths for a single day was on January 31, 1968 ~ 245 deaths. TET!
The most casualty deaths for a single month was May 1968 - 2,415 casualties were incurred.
For most Americans who read this they will only see the numbers that the Vietnam War created. To those of us who survived the war, and to the families of those who did not, we see the faces, we feel the pain that these numbers created. We are, until we too pass away, haunted with these numbers, because they were our friends, fathers, husbands, wives, sons and daughters. There are no noble wars, just noble warriors.
NOTE: I'd like to thank my good friend, OUR good friend (and Brother), Jack Morris, USMC Vietnam combat Veteran, for forwarding this very important and vital news to us regarding this, the 50th Anniversary of the Vietnam War.
For a very informative, educational history of Southeast Asia and particularly Vietnam, visit the following web site (including an interactive time line:
House Resolution 111 (H.R.111)
"That there is established in the House of Representatives a select committee to be known as the Select Committee on POW and MIA Affairs."
HR111 further states, "The select committee shall conduct a full investigation of all unresolved matters relating to any United States personnel unaccounted for from the Vietnam era, the Korean conflict, World War II, Cold War Missions, Persian Gulf War, Operation Iraqi Freedom, or Operation Enduring Freedom, including MIA's and POW's missing and captured."
The Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs concluded in 1993 that, "There is evidence, moreover, that indicates the possibility of survival, at least for a small number, after Operation Homecoming . . ."
Much new information has surfaced regarding the mis-handling and suppression of POW/MIA information. A former analyst with the Defense POW/MIA Office, provided a detailed a report referred to as the "185 Report," The report discussed the possibility that as many as 185 American POWs were alive as late as 1976.
In March 2006, memos written by a former Defense Intelligence analyst while serving as an investigator with the Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs reported admission by the Vietnamese government that 19 servicemen listed as dead were in fact captured. In February of 2005, the Joint Commission Support Directorate, the investigative arm of the U.S./Russian Joint POW/MIA Commission concluded, "Americans, including American servicemen, were imprisoned in the Soviet Union."
It is urgent that we address the issues presented in the information now available on POW/MIA matters from World War II, Korea, Cold War, Vietnam and the Gulf. Make sure you contact your congressional representative, asking them to co-sponsor H.R. 111.
"That there is established in the House of Representatives a select committee to be known as the Select Committee on POW and MIA Affairs."
HR111 further states, "The select committee shall conduct a full investigation of all unresolved matters relating to any United States personnel unaccounted for from the Vietnam era, the Korean conflict, World War II, Cold War Missions, Persian Gulf War, Operation Iraqi Freedom, or Operation Enduring Freedom, including MIA's and POW's missing and captured."
The Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs concluded in 1993 that, "There is evidence, moreover, that indicates the possibility of survival, at least for a small number, after Operation Homecoming . . ."
Much new information has surfaced regarding the mis-handling and suppression of POW/MIA information. A former analyst with the Defense POW/MIA Office, provided a detailed a report referred to as the "185 Report," The report discussed the possibility that as many as 185 American POWs were alive as late as 1976.
In March 2006, memos written by a former Defense Intelligence analyst while serving as an investigator with the Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs reported admission by the Vietnamese government that 19 servicemen listed as dead were in fact captured. In February of 2005, the Joint Commission Support Directorate, the investigative arm of the U.S./Russian Joint POW/MIA Commission concluded, "Americans, including American servicemen, were imprisoned in the Soviet Union."
It is urgent that we address the issues presented in the information now available on POW/MIA matters from World War II, Korea, Cold War, Vietnam and the Gulf. Make sure you contact your congressional representative, asking them to co-sponsor H.R. 111.